Spoken greeting

A spoken greeting (often imprecisely called a verbal greeting) is a customary or ritualised word or phrase used to introduce oneself or to greet someone. Greeting habits are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status.

Related Topics:
Custom - Ritual - Greeting habits

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In English, some common verbal greetings are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• "Hello", "", and "" — General verbal greetings. The latter two are less formal. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation of "hey" is found as early as 1225, and is defined as "a call to attract attention . . . an exclamation to express exultation . . . or surprise." The English language's other monosyllabic greeting, "Hi", is actually much newer, having become popular in the 1920s. Many languages use the word as a greeting, though a variety of spellings exist, including "hei" and "hej".
• "Good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening" — More formal verbal greetings used at the appropriate time of day. Note that the similar "good night" and "good day" are more commonly used as phrases of parting rather than greeting, although in Australian English "G'day" is a very common greeting.
• "What's up?", "How's it going?" and "What's happening?" — informal greetings used frequently
• "How do you do?" Has two usages, depending on the country. For example in Ireland it should be treated as a salutation, whereas in England it should be treated as a question that requires an answer.

Verbal greetings in other languages may also be found at common phrases in different languages.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: Pascha greeting.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~